Goods (such as foods, liquids, or other consumer items) are typically packaged in cases, boxes, bags, bottles, cans or other containers for ease of transportation and handling. Containers vary considerably in size, weight, and shape. Large containers are often transported in vans, trucks, or trains on specially designed racks which prevent the containers from sliding or rolling into one another or otherwise being damaged in transport.
Loading containers onto transportation racks is an onerous task. Many companies use workers to load one container at a time onto the racks. Unfortunately, using manual labor is expensive and time consuming. Furthermore, the workers may be incapable of lifting some containers which are too large and heavy.
One particular area in which loading individual containers onto a rack is difficult is in the area of bottled water. A full water bottle weighs approximately 45 pounds. Manually loading hundreds of 45 pound water bottles each day is an immensely strenuous chore.
Accordingly, there is a need to mechanically load containers (such as water bottles) onto a rack. One mechanical device used to load water bottles onto a rack is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,140 to Baker. Baker discloses a loader for handling an entire column of water bottles (for example, five vertically aligned water bottles) from a conveyor into the rack. The water bottles are arranged on the conveyor in a row and are vertically oriented. The loader includes a transfer table located adjacent to the conveyor. The transfer table is pivotally mounted at one end and has an axis of rotation which is perpendicular to the row of water bottles on the conveyor. The row of water bottles are loaded from the conveyor onto the transfer table. The loader further includes a large cylinder which lifts the transfer table and swings the table about its axis of rotation to transfer the water bottles from a row of vertical orientation to a column of horizontal orientation. The column of horizontally oriented water bottles are then pushed into the water bottle rack.
The Baker rack packer, however, is difficult to control from a systems perspective. The Baker packer requires numerous actuatable pistons or cylinders for moving bottles onto the transfer table, lifting the table, and pushing individual bottles from the transfer table. Controlling the independent operation of each cylinder in proper synchronization is a formidable control problem. Additionally, the Baker rack packer loads the water bottles neck first onto a rack. The bottles are therefor loaded into one side of the rack and removed from the opposite side. As a result, structurally, more sophisticated racks must be employed to accommodate the Baker rack packer.
The present invention provides an alternative approach to Baker. The present invention is capable of loading rows of containers onto corresponding rows of the rack in an efficient manner without damaging the containers.